On 04.10.2021 in the lobby on the 2nd floor of the Municipal Library “Iskra”, together with the Department of Art, Adriana Chigashova from Slovakia, a volunteer of the association “Youth Development Center -Mutual Aid” under the project “Mutual Aid” by program The European Solidarity Corps presented an exhibition of photographies taken her during by her trip to Turkey.

-Mutual Aid” under the project “Mutual Aid” program The European Solidarity Corps will present an exhibition of photographs taken by it.

The connection between traveling and sharing our experience and different culture with other people has been the main driving point why we wanted to do an exhibition about Istanbul. As we love to explore and travel, we want to discover also what is behind the Bulgarian border and the result of our journey is a presentation of Istanbul by the eyes of volunteers.

For someone like me, coming from central Europe it is pretty interesting that by taking a bus after 6 hours you can appear in the country that is so different. If you travel in countries around Slovakia, yes, you would probably see minor differences in language, mentality, or the character of nature, but still, the difference is not as significant as it is visible here. And this is actually what inspired me the most – that just behind the border, there is totally different world. A world with different cultures, people, religions, languages, writing, and yet it is so close – it is a whole new experience, perhaps a bit exotic, also oriental, intensive, loud, and vibrating, even though is it very connected with the history of Bulgaria. Also, there are still many Bulgarians who have never been there, so by doing this exhibition we wanted to be mediators and to bring a piece of Turkey to the Kazanlak. The name of the exhibition is “The colors of Istanbul”, as this only way how to mediate the whole experience, even though for us it was a bit more complex and included the whole variety of human senses – not just colors that we have seen, but also the smell of all type of spices, the songs coming from mosques, the heat and the crowds, the sweetness of Baklava in perfect combination with the bitterness of Turkish coffee.

Therefore in case you are interested, you can enjoy a small sample of Istanbul in Kazanlak library, where you can find an exhibition without the need to travel abroad and we hope you will enjoy it.

Adriána Čigášová